


Pour Me A Heavy Dose of Atmosphere

by princessmiakitten



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 12:31:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3936844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessmiakitten/pseuds/princessmiakitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iwaizumi Hajime sees the stars in Tooru's eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pour Me A Heavy Dose of Atmosphere

There are stars in Tooru’s eyes.

Brown eyes bright with wonder and fascination, piqued with interest about the night sky. It’s at the age of seven that Tooru and Hajime first stargaze in Tooru’s backyard, backs flat against the dewy grass.

Hajime sees the stars in Tooru’s eyes.

Even at the age of seven, his stubborn personality would never let him reveal that his gaze was drawn towards the stars in Tooru’s brown eyes.

He turns his head quickly when the Tooru starts to speak, effectively breaking the silence.

“Iwa-chan, do you think people can become stars?”

It’s a stupid question, really, because people can’t become stars. People are down on earth and stars are up in the sky. But when Hajime looks back at Tooru and sees the stars reflected in his eyes, he can’t help but to say yes, they can.

He doesn’t regret it one bit when he sees the smile on Tooru’s face.

They spend the night lying on the grass, eyes to the sky and talking about the possibilities of things beyond their realm-- of aliens and other life forms.

It doesn’t register with Hajime that the sky is lightening until he hears the soft sounds of Tooru’s snoring.

Even the stars need sleep, he supposed.

\------------------------------------------

The stars are in Tooru’s eyes even at the tender age of seventeen, when Hajime mumbles out a poor excuse of a love confession.

The pair are sitting on the front steps leading to Tooru’s door, the bright, brown-eyed boy trying his hardest not to cry. It makes Hajime upset in turn, because the stars are dimming and he can’t let them die.

Hajime’s not particularly good at communicating his feelings towards the other without having to resort to violence, but he tries for a more gentle approach this time around.

His tan fingers fill the spaces between Tooru’s pale ones. A perfect contrast, a perfect fit.

“You’re a star, Oikawa. Even if we didn’t win today, there will be other chances. Stars are reborn.”

It’s just words, and Hajime isn’t good with words, but it makes such a big difference to Tooru, whose eyes are shining bright once more and Hajime feels like everything has fallen back into place.

And he can’t help it.

He says more words.

“I love you, Oikawa.” It’s gruff and barely audible, but it’s enough for Tooru to hear, which is good enough.

They have their first kiss under the stars.

\------------------------------------------

There are stars in Tooru’s eyes at the ripe age of twenty-five, when he’s standing across the alter from Hajime, the older stumbling through his vows and trying his hardest not to cry.

He has his pride, after all.

The two opted for a summer wedding in the small church in their hometown, deciding to keep it close to their roots.

The stars were more visible here than in the polluted city of Tokyo, anyway.

They kiss and the stars in Tooru’s eyes are shining brighter than ever because he’s finally bound to Hajime, finally together in every way and he couldn’t be happier.

Hajime tries his damn hardest not to cry.

The festivities go on until the night, until the sky is an inky black and the yard is lit with the soft golden glow of twinkling tea lights and lanterns strung along the trees. Hajime would’ve missed it, had Tooru not been watching the sky with such rapt interest.

The stars were falling, long tails gliding through the sky with such grace.

A meteor shower.

Hajime closed his eyes and made a wish.

Let the stars never leave Tooru’s eyes.

\------------------------------------------

The stars start to dim at the age of twenty-eight, when Tooru wakes up in the middle of the night to severe stomach cramps, to pains that he can’t even bear. His frail hand shakes as he reaches over to shake Hajime, who thankfully was quick to wake, always tuned to Tooru’s needs.

Hajime hates himself.

He hates himself for letting those stars dim, for not knowing to take Tooru in to the doctor sooner when he began to thin out. When that already pale complexion whitened even more.

Hajime stays with Tooru in the hospital while he’s being examined.

There’s nothing wrong with him. They can fix him.

It becomes Hajime’s mantra for the long days he spends in the room with white walls, with monitors constantly beeping, with Tooru in nothing but a sheet in a cold bed.

It’s much too small for Hajime to fit, so he settles for holding Tooru’s hand through everything. Even though Tooru’s bones settle uncomfortably between Hajime’s thick fingers, they refuse to let go.

Hajime can’t hold Tooru’s hand through the surgery, though. He can’t hold his hand even though Tooru must be scared. It was in his eyes before they wheeled him away.

Cancer, they said.

Tumor found on the outside of his intestine, they said.

All they could do was take out a portion of it and leave the rest up to chemotherapy, they said.

Hajime, never being good with words, only asked how long he had left with his star.

\------------------------------------------

There are no stars in Tooru’s eyes when he’s gasping for air, his eyes wide open and staring blankly into space, not responding at all to Hajime’s pleas for him to just wake up. To answer him.

Hajime doesn’t know what else to do, so he calls the emergency number, all the while trying to keep Tooru awake-- alive, and trying not to cry because this is it.

Tooru’s lost the stars in his eyes.

And the emergency team barely makes it. They bring him to the hospital, barely alive, and hook him up to monitors and IVs and various other things.

Needles upon needles.

But Hajime knows it’s useless. It won’t bring his Tooru back.

His star isn’t coming back.

The doctors try for days.

He doesn’t last a week in the white room.

And Hajime loses it-- the brightest star in his life is gone. There’s no more light, no more sun. Hajime isn’t good with words, and so he expresses his emotions through tears and a lot of screaming.

He doesn’t look at the stars for the next few months.

\------------------------------------------

At thirty-two, Hajime can finally look at the stars again.

“You must be really passionate about the stars, Iwaizumi-sensei.”

Hajime looks up from his lesson plans to his elementary school student, a young boy with bright brown eyes.

The stars.

It’s as if the stars were in the child’s eyes.

His star was reborn.

Hajime smiles and nods, pulling out a worn book of constellations from his bag, pulling a chair over for the young boy to peruse it with him.

He’d make sure to watch the stars that night.


End file.
